9 dead in SUV rollover south of Phoenix

08/07/08 1:56 p.m. EDT
FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) -- At least nine people were killed Thursday after a sport utility vehicle rolled over on a rural highway southwest of Phoenix, the Arizona Department of Public Safety reported.

Eighteen people were in the SUV that rolled on State Route 79, about 20 miles southeast of Florence, Officer Carmen Figueroa said. The other nine occupants were injured and were being flown to hospitals in Phoenix and Tucson.

Images from a television helicopter show a crumpled white SUV alongside the road and what appears to be a row of bodies covered with tarps.

Only one vehicle was involved, Figueroa said. The roadway is expected to be closed for several hours.

Calls seeking further information from state police weren't immediately returned.

Craig Fischer, a spokesman for Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, said the hospital was expecting to receive two survivors and possibly additional patients later. Judy Keane, a spokeswoman for Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, confirmed two survivors are being treated there but could not give any information about their condition.

Vinnie Picard, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said immigration agents were headed to the scene to investigate suspicions that the SUV was a human smuggling vehicle.

The suspicion was based on the large number of people crammed into the vehicle and because the highway where the accident occurred is a route used by immigrant smugglers. Still, it's not yet known whether illegal immigrants were in the vehicle, Picard said.

U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Rob Daniels said agents were called to assist at the scene but he had no confirmation if the SUV's occupants were illegal immigrants.

Accidents involving vehicles overloaded with migrants are fairly common in Arizona, and frequently lead to multiple fatalities.

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